MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Hazel McCallion, formerly one of Ontario’s most influential and longest-serving mayors, has taken a job at the University of Toronto.
The 94-year-old retired from office in November after serving as the mayor of Mississauga, Ont., for 36 years.

She is now a special adviser to the president of the university’s Mississauga division on matters related to the strategic development of the school.

The university says her appointment, which runs for a year, began earlier this month.

McCallion will also be helping to create new courses and will work with the Mississauga campus’ Institute for Management and Innovation to develop a master’s degree in urban innovation and development.

The university says she will also contribute to a non-credit training course for those who want to enter public service and will be a guest lecturer on occasion.
McCallion said she was pleased at the opportunity to work at the university.

“I believe strongly in the importance of both education and innovation for the future of Mississauga,” McCallion said in a statement.

“I have always felt so welcomed when I am at the university, and I am honoured to continue our long relationship and to contribute to education in Mississauga.”

McCallion — nicknamed “Hurricane Hazel” — was first elected mayor of Mississauga in 1978 and won her 12th term in 2010. Shortly after that win, she announced her plan to retire following the completion of her term.

Under her leadership, Mississauga became the third-largest city in Ontario and the sixth largest in Canada.

Toronto Police confirmed the existence of a mysterious underground chamber near York University Monday, after a CBC report raised the specter of an attack on the upcoming Pan Am Games.

The tunnel, described by CBC as “sophisticated” and tall enough for an adult to walk through, was discovered near the York campus in the woods just outside the Rexall Centre stadium, which will play host to the Pan Am tennis events this summer.

Police acknowledged that a tunnel had been found, but revealed few other details. Const. Victor Kwong, spokesman for the Toronto Police, said Monday that the structure was originally found by a Toronto and Region Conservation Authority employee.

After lifting a sheet of aluminum, the employee saw the entrance to a reinforced tunnel, which was about seven metres long and 2.5 metres beneath the ground.

No conspicuous piles of dirt could be seen around the entrance, according to CBC, indicating that its builders had taken pains to dispose of the soil at an offsite location. Given the size of the tunnel, it would have required the removal of several metric tonnes of soil.

The chamber had a ceiling and walls reinforced with what appears to be wood beams in CBC footage. Authorities have released no details about any telltale objects in the tunnel that may have indicated its purpose. However, there were tools inside, as well as a gasoline-powered electric generator and lights.

It has since been filled in, and poses no threat “at this point,” according to police.

The typical use for an illegal tunnel—at least in North America—is to smuggle drugs or to get felons out of prison.

Neither use appears to have been feasible with the York University tunnel. In addition, if the intent of the structure was to clandestinely bore underneath the Rexall Centre grounds for some reason, it was in an odd location to do so.

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The tunnel was located quite a distance from the stadium itself, and is still more than a dozen meters from the venue’s open-air tennis courts.

Given the complex construction of the tunnel, it would have conceivably taken weeks of work and thousands of dollars in building materials just to access a relatively innocuous portion of the grounds.

York University has an engineering school, but not one with the pranking history of other Canadian institutions. It is also well-known for its sometimes radical student activism. However, no student link has been drawn at this time.

Besides, unlike other major world events that Canada has hosted in recent years—such as the G-20 or the 2010 Olympics—opposition to the Pan Am games has been relatively quiet thus dar.

A press conference on the bizarre discovery is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

The tunnel was first discovered about six weeks ago, immediately prompting a thorough police investigation that did not become public until CBC was tipped off.

National security investigators have reportedly been notified of the find. Given the international nature of the Pan Am games—and the rarity of the find—word of the discovery soon made international headlines.

News of the tunnel came one day after the RCMP announced it was investigating a video, allegedly published by a Somali extremist group, that appeared to endorse a terrorist attack on the West Edmonton Mall. It also comes in the midst of a federal debate over the powers police here have to investigate terrorist threats.

Security costs for the Pan Am Games were pegged last November at $247 million. The 17-day event will see close to 7,000 athletes from across the Americas compete in 36 sports at venues throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

The chairman of the TTC predicted more “troubling” revelations of the kind spelled out in a pair of audits at the transit agency that found persistent problems with gas card practices and fleet maintenance despite repeated red flags.

“I don’t know what the next story will be, but I think there will be more,” Chairman Josh Colle said at city hall on Monday. “And it speaks to an organization that has to be better managed.”

The report, which will be discussed at a meeting this week, found “weak controls” when it comes to the use of gas cards for a fleet of 455 non revenue vehicles and equipment such as forklifts and snow blowers, It called for “immediate” action to ensure rules are followed. Although “red flags” were uncovered in an audit in 2004, problems persist, the report found. Auditors found gas cards had been requested for decommissioned vehicles and that employees did not provide proper documentation when filling up jerry cans of fuel in about half of the receipts sampled. The report did not uncover proof of specific wrong doing, but noted “under the current fuel card management system, any misuse of TTC’s fuel cards is unlikely to be detected by management through routine monitoring.”

A separate report on the maintenance of the non-revenue vehicle fleet uncovered other issues. It found that the TTC had 25 of 81 rental vehicles on hire for more than three years. Eleven vehicles had been rented for more than five years, and three in excess of nine years. Audits in 2005 and 2010 highlighted problems with meeting maintenance schedules, and the issues continue, the report stated.

Mayor John Tory told reporters he found the findings “profoundly discouraging.”

“It seems lessons have not been learned,” he said. “We can’t go on having these kinds of things happen in such a lax fashion.”
Mr. Colle echoed his concerns around repeat warnings that are seemingly ignored.

“They won’t be ignoring these recommendations. We’ll be adopting every one of the recommendations of the auditors and as well we should be. This is basic management practice that just weren’t employed,” he said.

“I am excited about joining a city-building university like Ryerson,” said Chow, in a statement. “The opportunity to work with creative, dedicated, urban-oriented young people on the important challenges facing our next generation, our city and our society, is both humbling and thrilling.”

The university says Chow will also start a program based on community engagement and democratic participation in addition to teaching courses and give talks.

Chow has been out of the spotlight since late October when she came in third in Toronto’s mayoral election.

She joins the university where her late husband, NDP leader Jack Layton, taught for many years.

At a conference to combat radicalization held last week in Toronto, a prominent local imam called on the federal government to stop using language linking Islam to terror.

“Lead by example, change the rhetoric, and stop saying these words. They hurt,” said Dr. Hamid Slimi, former chairman of the Canadian Council of Imams and current chairman of the Muslim seminary, the Canadian Centre for Deen Studies.

The plea, met with overwhelming applause, referred specifically to remarks made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper weeks before that characterized mosques as potential spaces of radicalization.

Several days later, U.S. President Barack Obama, whose government has refused to use words such as “Islamic” or “jihad” to characterize violent extremism, found himself under fire for taking the opposite side of the semantic battle.

“What’s wrong with this man that he can’t stand up and say there’s a part of Islam that’s sick?” former New York Mayor Rudi Giuliani reportedly said, after the president defended his government’s position this week at a White House summit on combating extremism.

“We are not at war with Islam,” Mr. Obama said. “We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”

While the commitment to combat extremism is undeniable on both sides of the border, the debate over just what language to use — and whether or not it contributes to the problem — is raging as fiercely as ever.

Many Canadian Muslims are unnerved by the government’s use of the language of Islam to describe terror and see it as stigmatizing.

In the Qur’an, the term “jihad” means exerting oneself in a difficult task such as debating, family struggles or armed conflict, says Sheik Aarij Anwer of Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke.

He calls the use of the term jihadism to describe terror “careless,” saying it draws an inaccurate link from “irrational violence” to theology — and implicates all Muslims in violent extremism.
Clothing terror in Islamic terms “has skewed the public’s perceptions of Canadian Muslims as some kind of dangerous and ‘un-Canadian’ group and reinforces stereotypes of the Muslims as some kind of fifth column and whose loyalty is suspect,” said Ihsaan Gardee, executive director of the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

But overlooking the religious roots of groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq & Al-Sham (ISIS) poses another serious problem, say others.

“By trying to de-link Islam from Islamic terrorism, [Mr. Obama] is engaging in an act of deception and self-deception,” said Peter Wehner, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Ethics & Public Policy Center and a member of three past Republican administrations. “In order to defeat an enemy you need to understand the nature of the enemy you face.”

Michael Jackson Bonner, a historian of Iran at the Paris-based research group Projet CTESIPHON, agrees.

“Disguising the threat of militant Islam under the cover of ‘violent extremism’ makes Obama seem soft on [ISIS] and its allies,” he said.

“[ISIS] calls itself Islamic; its territory is called a ‘caliphate;’ its leader is a ‘caliph.’ ”

The group also draws on the Qur’an and other texts of Islam to justify its actions and convince new recruits its version of Islam is more authentic than the rest, Mr. Jackson Bonner points out.

While Canadian government officials haven’t shied away from using the term jihad — in a statement before the White House conference, Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney said, “The international jihadist movement has declared war on Canada and its allies” — a 2012 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police questioned its use.

“Terms like ‘Islamic terrorism,’ ‘Islamist terrorism,’ ‘Jihadism’ and ‘Islamo-fascism’ succeed only in conflating terrorism with mainstream Islam, thereby casting all Muslims as terrorists or potential terrorists,” said the report, Words make Worlds.

However, the RCMP has never issued an official directive on the language. It said in a statement it has a “bias-free” policy, but does not “issue specific guidance about such language use.”

As for the government’s approach, Mr. Jackson Bonner says Mr. Harper’s choice of words indicate he has been “firmer and more realistic” than Mr. Obama’s, avoiding the traps of political correctness.
“We simply cannot portray [ISIS] as anything other than a fanatical Muslim group whose doctrines must be understood in order to be defeated,” he said. “Right now what matters most is destroying it.”

The “canine luxury resort experience” located a few minutes from Toronto’s Pearson airport is set to open for overnight, four-legged guests and daycare in the first week of March, says owner Susan Rupert.

“We’ve had a few clients say that they would like to stay there themselves,” said Ms. Rupert.

The Park9 resort is a 14,000-square-foot facility with an indoor and outdoor playground and a separate wing for cats. There are no crates — owners can choose between having their pooch sleep on a bed in a shared “lounge” or in a private room.

It will offer private play sessions, bathing and grooming, and even “one-on-one cuddle time” according to the website. The “mini-bar” options include dog chews, ice cream and special holiday meals.

Owners who are enjoying their own room service will be able to give their dog a treat through a computer-controlled system.

“It’s like Skype for dogs. Basically there’s a screen inside the room that you can sign into and video-chat with your dog personally,” said Ms. Rupert. “You can have a full conversation with your dog; you can dispense a treat for them while you’re travelling, and you can also dispense aromatherapy.”

Along with video technology, the building incorporates natural sunlight, hospital-grade ventilation systems and artificial grass.

Vancouver offers small “dog hotel” style kennels, but Ms. Rupert said Park9 will be Canada’s largest and the first with a pool.

In the U.S., Chicago and Los Angeles offer similar pooch luxury, according to Ms. Rupert, who has operated a dog fitness and spa centre, UrbanDog, in Toronto since 2003.

Unlike leaving your pet at the veterinarian’s or with a friend, the Park9 staff of 25 will monitor the kennel 24 hours a day.

Prices start at $65 a night and climb to $200-a-night luxury suites. Additional services like one-on-one fetch could add up quickly for a pampered pet, costing $20 per half-hour session, while spa treatments like a shampoo start at $35. Pet owners bring their dog’s own food.

Ms. Rupert said she already has reservations booked for the most expensive suites, which include a comfy dog bed, a flat screen TV, a private webcam and treat dispenser.

Lonesome owners can check on their pets from afar by tapping into the resort’s webcam network.

“People can sign in and watch and take pictures with it,” said Ms. Rupert. “It’s peace of mind, even for people during the day. When you’re travelling it makes you feel better when you miss them and you can see they’re having fun and you don’t feel so guilty.”

TORONTO — Jolyn Vergara’s phone pinged just before 10 a.m. on Thursday morning. It was a message from her husband. There’s a boy missing, it said. He’s only three years old.

By that point, most of Toronto already knew the story of Elijah Marsh, if not the ending. Not yet, anyway.

The three-year-old had walked out of his grandmother’s apartment in north Toronto at 4 a.m. He was wearing a diaper, a T-shirt and boots when he left. It was -20 C at the time. Hours later, he still hadn’t been found.

As the morning progressed and the frantic hunt continued, Ms. Vergara followed it online. “I kept opening my phone, looking for updates,” she said. When the news finally came, it hit her, like it did so many others, like a personal loss. “As a mom, I felt the pain,” she said.

A searcher had found Elijah, hidden between two houses, just around the corner from his grandmother’s apartment. His lungs were empty. His heart had stopped. He’d been outside, his skin exposed, in the ugliest stretch of an ugly winter, for six hours. He hadn’t survived.

Twenty-four hours later, as the pointless, blameless reality of the little boy’s death sunk in, Toronto seemed to enter a kind of collective mourning. Outside the Neptune Drive apartment complex where Elijah had been sleeping the night before, a massive pile of stuffed animals and flowers had appeared. There were letters and cards and even a fuzzy snowsuit, hanging from a pole. A toque was tied to its chest. A card was stuffed in its neck. “RIP ELIJAH,” it said.

Steven Schweissgot arrived just before 3 p.m. He left a stuffed bear on the pile. “It’s a tragic thing to happen to somebody,” he said. “I can’t believe the horror that that kid went through.

“I just feel bad … There is no one to blame. It’s just something that happened. It’s so unfortunate.”

About 400 paces away, outside the yard where Elijah had been found, another, smaller tribute was piling up. Stacked just off the sidewalk, on a pile of snow, sat dozens of plush bunnies and monkeys and bears. There was a toy truck, too, and a stone statue of an angel.

Like Ms. Vergara, Justin Kozuch followed the story of Elijah from the time it broke Thursday. When the news came that the boy had died, he stood up and walked out into the frigid cold. When he got back, When he got back, Mr. Kozuch — the father of two children, including a three-year-old boy — posted a message online. If anyone out there was raising money for the family, he wrote, let him know.

When he didn’t get a reply, Mr. Kozuch decided to strike out on his own. He didn’t contact the family. He didn’t know how. He just set up a fundraising page on Tilt.com under the name “Help Cover the Costs of Elijah Marsh’s Funeral.” By 7 p.m. Friday, he had already raised more than $126,000 from donors all across Canada.

“To be truthful, I don’t know what a funeral costs,” he said. “It’s not something I would like to learn.”

Mr. Kozuch said he had a phone number for a close friend of Elijah’s family. He planned to contact them Saturday to figure out how to get them the cash. (Donations are still being accepted until 5 p.m. Sunday.)

“I know the money is not going to replace what they’ve lost,” he said. “That’s not the intent behind this … It’s just one less burden that they need to worry about.”

There was brief moment of horrible, citywide déjà vu Friday afternoon when police announced that a second three-year-old boy had been found wandering, completely naked, in Etobicoke. Luckily, a neighbour heard that boy’s cries and pulled him inside. Police eventually found the boy’s mother. She was arrested and charged with abandoning a child under 10.

Back at the memorial, Jolyn Vegera pulled up at about 2 p.m. She laid a single white rose on the pile and then hustled back toward her car. When a reporter asked her why she was there, she paused. Ms. Vegera has a boy of her own. He’s three, just like Elijah was. “I just wanted to show him,” she said, speaking of Elijah. “Even though I’m not a relative, I feel his pain.”

Shawn St. Louis remembers his old teammate, Mark Stroz, as a Leafs fans, a sledge hockey star with the Markham Islanders and a good friend with a similar attitude.

Both were born with spina bifida, a deformity of the spine that put them in their wheelchairs. But to say that they were confined by those chairs, or by anything, really isn’t accurate since the pair, along with the rest of the Islanders, would win international sledge hockey tournaments and then hit the town for some shenanigans, together.

Being in a wheelchair wasn’t something to cry about or a barrier to having a great time. And Mark Stroz had a great time. And he was funny. And he led his sledge hockey team in scoring and, when the season ended, he would lead the charge to his family’s cottage on a lake near Barrie where Mr. St. Louis remembers going fishing and swimming and kayaking and joking around and listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and simply hanging out with his pal, talking.

Mark Stroz had dreams and, when you really did get him talking, he sounded like a young philosopher, weaving together big ideas — he reportedly wanted to improve wheelchair accessibility and was an aspiring entrepreneur — and biting into even bigger outdoor adventures.

Such as heading out West to see the Rockies a few years back or heading out on Valentine’s Day, just last weekend, on the coldest night of the year in Toronto, to catch up with some friends.

This was Mark Stroz, at 29, young and full of life, before he became part of a tragic story that has left those who knew him heartbroken and those who did not wondering why.

Mr. Stroz was dropped in front of the grey brick bungalow on Allanhurst Drive in Etobicoke where he lived with his mother, Christine, by a taxi sometime after midnight on the morning of Feb. 15. The temperature, without the wind chill, was -30 C. There was blowing snow. He was found lying face down in his driveway by a passerby at 7:12 am. His wheelchair was tipped on its side. He had no vital signs and was later pronounced dead at hospital.

His funeral is Saturday at a church not far from his home.

Police are still interested in speaking with the cab driver who dropped him off. No one has come forward.

“I think there is a moral obligation here,” an officer familiar with the Stroz case file told me. “But this is not a criminal investigation.”

In legal-speak, Mr. Stroz’s passing was classified as a sudden death. People die suddenly in public all the time in the big city. Shovelling their sidewalk; running on a treadmill at the gym; feeding pigeons on a park bench; eating lunch at a crowded mall; riding on an empty subway car late at night.

Police file a report. But because the deaths are not deemed suspicious, investigators quickly move on. In the case of Mark Stroz, officers phoned around to the cab companies and determined which company had dropped him off, but have not located the driver.

Unless that person comes forward, all that will remain of a terrible night is a dead young man and the perceived moral failure of a stranger behind the wheel.

“I believe that cab driver should have waited to make sure he got in OK,” Mr. St. Louis said. “I believe that is part of their job when dealing with the elderly or disabled.”

It is a belief widely held by the residents of Allanhurst Drive.

“Why didn’t that cab driver wait?” a neighbour of the Stroz family wondered, inviting me inside their home for a chat on a bitterly cold Friday afternoon.

“He died in his driveway.”

Several neighbours spoke of how they often saw Mr. Stroz out with his big, brown dog, or stowing his wheelchair in the back of his car and heading off.

Facebook photos show Mr. Stroz surrounded by life; out with friends, or out in nature. Photographing flowers and trees and mountains. One neighbour’s eyes welled with tears at the mention of his name. He couldn’t speak. He politely closed his front door.

It has been a week of terrible misfortune for Torontonians. First Mr. Stroz and then Elijah Marsh, a precious three-year-old, freezing to death in a stranger’s backyard a few hundred metres from his grandparents’ apartment.

He died in his driveway

The February cold has been bitter and unyielding. The answers impossible to find.

The curtains were drawn at the Stroz family home on Friday. Parents Christine and Richard and sister Allison have asked for privacy. No one appeared to be at the house when I walked by.